Coffee maker causes house fire

FORT FAIRFIELD — A malfunctioning automatic coffee maker was the cause of a fire that destroyed a house Monday morning on the Sam Everett Road, according to Robert McMahan, state fire marshal.

A similar incident occurred in early March in Verona, claiming the life of Dana Heath, 44. “Fires resulting from electric coffee makers are not unusual,” said to McMahan.

A house fire, caused by a coffee maker, was reported on the Foxcroft Road in Houlton two years ago, and a Fort Fairfield firefighter’s coffee maker caught fire a year ago.

The problem is caused by not unplugging the units or by individuals using units that have been recalled because of malfunctions, said McMahan.

In March 1991, General Electric Co. voluntarily recalled 9 million GE and Universal brand drip coffee makers, manufactured prior to April 28, 1984. The coffee makers were believed to present a fire hazard, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

The Commission cited allegations that two persons were killed and eight others injured in a fire caused by failure of a fuse in one of the coffee makers.

Laboratory results on the Verona coffee maker had not been completed, while the cause of the malfunction in Fort Fairfield unit will be determined after it is examined by an electrical engineer from Firescience Technologies of Massachusetts. The unnamed unit is a common brand and was purchased for about $60, said McMahan.

The coffee maker causing the Fort Fairfield fire was located in the kitchen of a house owned by Wayne Boulier. Boulier, his wife and two children, were not inside the house, according to Dana McLaughlin, Fort Fairfield fire chief.

The house was assessed at $33,270 and was insured. The interior of the home received massive damage, McLaughlin said.